A1 · Can, must, want
pouvoir and vouloir
Ordinary verbs where English has defective ones.
pouvoir: je peux, tu peux, il peut, nous pouvons, vous pouvez, ils peuvent. vouloir is built the same way: je veux, tu veux, il veut, nous voulons, vous voulez, ils veulent. Both have the same shape — three forms with eu, two with ou, and the third person plural back to eu.
There is more to learn here than in English, and less to unlearn. «Can» has one form for every person and then simply runs out: there is no «to can», no «canned», no «will can», so English patches the gaps with «be able to». French needs no patches — pouvoir has an infinitive, a participle, a future and a subjunctive like any other verb, and je pourrai and j'ai pu are ordinary forms rather than repairs.
After both comes the bare infinitive, with no à and no de: Je veux partir, Tu peux entrer. That much is English exactly — «I can leave», never «I can to leave».
A wish becomes polite in the conditional: je voudrais instead of je veux, which is «I would like» instead of «I want». Nobody says je veux in a shop, for the same reason nobody says «I want a coffee» at a counter.
Die Form
| I can | je peux |
| he can | il peut |
| we can | nous pouvons |
| they can | ils peuvent |
| I want | je veux |
| I would like | je voudrais |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
After pouvoir and vouloir comes the bare infinitive.
Je peux venir demain.I can come tomorrow.
In a shop or on the phone it is je voudrais, not je veux.
Je voudrais un billet pour Lyon.I would like a ticket to Lyon.
Asking permission uses puis-je, not peux-je.
Puis-je vous aider ?May I help you?
The negation brackets the conjugated verb, not the infinitive.
Je ne peux pas venir ce soir.I cannot come this evening.
Woran man es erkennt
- peux
- peut
- veux
- voudrais
Beispielsätze
Tu peux m’attendre cinq minutes ?Can you wait five minutes for me?
Nous voulons visiter le musée samedi.We want to visit the museum on Saturday.
Ils ne peuvent pas payer en espèces.They cannot pay in cash.
Je voudrais réserver une table.I would like to book a table.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
Nothing stands between the conjugated verb and the infinitive. English speakers rarely insert «to», because «can to go» is impossible in English too — the slip here is reaching for de, since so many other French verbs demand one: j'essaie de venir, je commence à comprendre. After pouvoir and vouloir there is never anything at all.
No gaps to patch: pouvoir conjugates all the way through.
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